Brian Brecht is a lacrosse fan, so he watched the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 on TV this past weekend.

Of course, the seventh-year Rutgers coach wished he would have been on the sidelines for one of those contests, instead of watching from afar.

For the second consecutive year, the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team narrowly missed securing an NCAA Tournament bid. Thus, the Scarlet Knights again were spectators on the first weekend of the tournament, rather than participants.

“Obviously the goal when you start out is to play in May, to play in the post-season,” Brecht said in a phone interview with Gannett New Jersey this past weekend, marking his first public comments since Rutgers was snubbed by the selection committee on May 7. “For two years we’ve been close, but when you don’t win your AQ (automatic qualifier) of your conference you leave it up to a committee.”

Rutgers went 10-4, 2-3 in the Big Ten this past season, one year after going 11-5, 3-2 and losing in the conference title game to Maryland. Although the Scarlet Knights finished fifth in the Big Ten and thus didn’t qualify for the conference’s four-team tournament, it appeared a dramatic overtime win over third-ranked Ohio State in the regular-season finale on April 29 had put the Scarlet Knights in good shape. True freshman Kieran Mullins scored the game-winner, his team-leading 35th goal.

But Rutgers was hurt by results in other conference tourneys. First, North Carolina upset Notre Dame in the ACC title game on April 30. Wins over the Fighting Irish and against Syracuse in the semifinals enabled the Tar Heels to finish at 8-7 grab an at-large spot despite the conference not having an automatic bid. Had Carolina not won those two games, it would have finished below .500 and been ineligible for an at-large berth.

Similarly, Denver’s upset loss to Marquette in the Big East semifinals on May 4 threw the Pioneers into the at-large pool, making the Big East a two-bid league.

Still, while Brecht bemoaned those results, he had no problem with the resumes of the Tar Heels and Pioneers.

“As much as I would have liked to have controlled our destiny and maybe had one more win to not put it in the committee’s hands,” the coach said, “the eight teams they selected certainly deserved to be in.”

But he added, “It was tough. It was disheartening for the second straight year to feel a little helpless that you’re leaving it up to a committee.”

Brecht also admitted he was surprised by comments made by Fairfield athletic director Gene Doris, the committee chairman, after the selections were made. Doris said the committee’s decision on the final at-large spot came down to Duke and Army, with Duke getting the nod. Thus Army, not Rutgers, was the first team out.

Brecht was surprised by this revelation, given the fact the Scarlet Knights had a better RPI and strength of schedule than the Black Knights, in addition to a head-to-head victory on Feb 18. But the committee’s reasoning was that Army (12-4) had two wins over top 10 teams (Syracuse, Notre Dame) and Rutgers had one (Ohio State).

“That’s a little disappointing,” Brecht said, adding he’d like to know “what exactly the criteria is. … I think the system’s flawed, myself. The (committee’s) reasoning changes every year. There should be no surprises. There should be no head-scratching. You should know what you have to do” to get an at-large berth.

Still, Brecht believes Rutgers has accomplished a lot, noting the past two seasons marked the first back-to-back campaigns of double-digit wins in program history.

“I give our student-athletes a lot of credit,” Brecht said. “I’m very excited (about next season) and that’s an understatement. We have a lot of young guys who have gained experience. … You can’t put a value on how much experience we’ve gained as a program from top to bottom.”

Rutgers won 10 games despite having four starters miss the season because of injuries, including redshirt sophomore attackman Adam Charalambides, the 2016 Big Ten freshman of the year. He will be back next season.

“It was a new experience for them being captains,” Brecht said. “It’s going to help them not only on the field, but off the field--in the locker room. In every aspect our program is growing. We’ve consistently been a top 20 team the last two years.”

But he knows one big step remains.

“I do think there’s a sense of urgency,” Brecht said, “of making sure there are no letdowns in practice in the fall, in the pre-season. They want to make sure they don’t leave it up to the committee after the experiences of the last two years.”